Seeing Spots: Flashes and Floaters

The term ​“floater” refers to dark spots or strings that appear in your vision which shift when you move your eyes or when you attempt to focus. Floaters may be more notice­able when you’re look­ing at a sol­id, bright back­ground like a wall or the sky. In some cas­es, floaters are harm­less; how­ev­er, if you expe­ri­ence peri­od­ic flash­es of bright light that tem­porar­i­ly dis­rupts your vision, it may be a sign of a more seri­ous issue. These visu­al flash­es and floaters can devel­op due to a vari­ety of rea­sons including: 

• When the jel­ly-like vit­re­ous flu­id in your eyes begins to break down as you age. This occurs dur­ing a rel­a­tive­ly com­mon, harm­less process called vit­re­ous synere­sis, start­ing between the ages of 55 to 60.
• After a pos­te­ri­or vit­re­ous detach­ment (PVD), which is anoth­er com­mon age-relat­ed change. Unlike with vit­re­ous synere­sis, dur­ing a PVD, the vit­re­ous actu­al­ly becomes sep­a­rat­ed from the reti­na. PVD is not nec­es­sar­i­ly dan­ger­ous, how­ev­er, in some cas­es, more seri­ous com­pli­ca­tions can occur. If you expe­ri­ence symp­toms of a PVD includ­ing larg­er floaters and more per­sis­tent flash­es of light, it’s impor­tant to be seen by a reti­nal spe­cial­ist as soon as possible.
• Fol­low­ing a reti­nal tear or a reti­nal detach­ment which may devel­op for a vari­ety of rea­sons. In some cas­es, with a PVD, as the vit­re­ous gel sep­a­rates, it can tear or detach the reti­na. It can also occur as a long-term com­pli­ca­tion of near-sight­ed­ness (myopia) or fol­low­ing an eye trau­ma or surgery.
• Due to a hem­or­rhage or blood leak­age with­in your reti­na. Flash­es may devel­op if the leak­age pulls on the reti­na and/​or tears a blood ves­sel with­in your eye. Chron­ic health con­di­tions such as dia­betes can also weak­en blood ves­sels over time, caus­ing them to leak. In many cas­es, small­er hem­or­rhages will heal on their own, while larg­er, per­sis­tent ones may require surgery.
• An infec­tion or increased inflam­ma­tion in your eye(s) can lead to flashes.
• Tumors of the eye, while less com­mon, can cause visu­al disruptions.

While flash­es or floaters may devel­op due to rel­a­tive­ly com­mon age-relat­ed changes with your eyes, it’s impor­tant to con­sult with an oph­thal­mol­o­gist right away to deter­mine their cause and begin treat­ment if need­ed. If left untreat­ed, over time, minor tug­ging on your reti­na can cause a tear or com­plete detach­ment, which is con­sid­ered a med­ical emer­gency. If this hap­pens, you will need to have surgery in order to repair your reti­na and pre­serve your vision.

You shouldn’t wait for flash­ers, floaters or oth­er vision changes to devel­op to start car­ing for your eyes. You can help to main­tain your eye health and vision by: 

• Fol­low­ing a bal­anced diet that includes eye-healthy nutri­ents like lutein, omega‑3 fat­ty acids and vit­a­min A. Foods rich in lutein include dark, leafy greens such as spinach and kale. Omega‑3 fat­ty acids can be found in fish includ­ing tuna, trout and hal­ibut. You can also boost your vit­a­min A intake with car­rots, sweet pota­toes and liver.
• Quit­ting smok­ing. It increas­es your risk of devel­op­ing mac­u­lar degen­er­a­tion as you age.
• Receiv­ing an annu­al eye exam, espe­cial­ly if you have a fam­i­ly his­to­ry of an eye dis­ease or chron­ic health con­di­tions like high blood pres­sure or diabetes.
• Wash­ing your hands before putting in or tak­ing out your con­tact lens­es to reduce your risk of devel­op­ing an infection.
• Wear­ing pro­tec­tive eye­wear when par­tic­i­pat­ing in sports, oper­at­ing heavy machin­ery or when com­plet­ing home improve­ment projects.
• Wear­ing sun­glass­es when­ev­er you are out­side to pro­tect your eyes against dam­ag­ing UV light exposure.

If you notice new floaters, an increase in floaters, sud­den flash­es of light or dark­ness in your periph­er­al vision, you should be seen by an oph­thal­mol­o­gist right away. While these symp­toms may be pain­less, they may sig­nal a reti­nal tear or detach­ment which requires imme­di­ate attention. 

If you have been expe­ri­enc­ing changes with your vision, espe­cial­ly new or wors­en­ing flash­es or floaters, it’s impor­tant not to delay treat­ment in order to pre­serve the health of your eyes and vision. Sched­ule an appoint­ment with an oph­thal­mol­o­gist online or by call­ing your pre­ferred location.